9/16 Season Three, Episode 18: Wrong Number- Scarecrow and Mrs King

So Lee and Amanda are searching Wally Tuttle’s condo..
Amanda seems to have well and truly gotten over her concerns about searching through another’s belongings More signs she’s growing as an agent of record!
Gloves? why are they wearing gloves? they never wear gloves!
Suddenly SMK has gone all CSI this episode!
Lee collects physical evidence while Amanda rushes around searching.Lee: Finger prints, hair samples, carpet fibres – this should give us enough to work with, believe me.Amanda: Yeah, hopefully we can prove that Wally Tuttle isn’t Will Towne.Lee: That Will Towne is leading a double life…– mild mannered mathematician from Georgetown and wild party boy from Baltimore![Aie! Lee.. doesn’t that make it a triple life?! Isn’t he suppose to also be a Russian who isn’t really an American? I guess that clue didn’t really catch on?]
(Amanda holds a stack of photos..in a close up we see Wally Tuttle hugging a ladyfriend) [Hmm Cindi maybe?!] …Look, Amanda, the valet saw him and the elevator operator. [Doesn’t prove anything!]Amanda: Yeah but the piano player wasn’t sure.Lee: Let’s just stop arguing about this shall we?…….Let’s take Tuttle down—Amanda asserts: -Towne.[Lee seems to have lost his temper already.. while Amanda is still in control of hers. Funny.. and Lee seems to think he is the supervisor in this relationship?! He isn’t looking too supervisory at the moment!]Lee: Towne – Tuttle – whatever!… …Let’s just take him down to the piano bar and get this over with once and for all!Amanda: That’s a good idea.Lee: You agree with me?[Yes unlike you Lee she doesn’t disagree with everything for the sake of it ]
(Amanda pauses and carefully considers her response)
[in complete contrast to Lee ]Amanda: I agree with you there.Lee: Come on.Lee leaves, Amanda fixes the lamp and then follows..
[Lee doesn’t put her off from taking care with her work – the lamp is left as it should be! ]Amanda: (Very quietly repeats) Come on.And heads out the door..The next thing we see Tuttle/Towne/Popovich whatever (till I know who he is I’ll call him PopTutTowne) down in the bar and he’s not happy.PopTutTowne: This is ridiculous. You’ve never met me before,… …I’ve never met you!So he’s talking to Jango, and he’s not happy that Jango said he was Tuttle.. [that’s Tuttle Tattle!] – we see Lee and Amanda arriving behind him.
Sooooo what is PopTutTowne doing there? Lee did say they’d take Towne down to the bar.. but if they called him and asked him to come – why aren’t Lee and Amanda already there? and why is this man already saying he isn’t who the piano guy said? Hmmm or maybe the Russians actually called him and somehow convinced him to be there.. or lol I guess if this is Popovich/Tuttle they would have ordered him?! haaaa anyone’s head hurting? 🙂Lee: Alright, alright, alright. Calm down gentlemen….(LOL Jango pulls the jar of cash towards himself and away from IRS Lee!) … Let’s just discuss this, huh?Jango: Ahhhh, now I see. I’m sorry, I can’t help you.Amanda: Now Mr Hart, we know that this is Will Towne… …Are you telling us that you know this gentleman as Wally Tuttle?Jango: Whoa! They must have you by your W2’s pal. Towne: How can you sit there and pretend to know me?… [Lee seems to look at Towne like he’s a scumbag liar here.. what do you think?]… I’ve never been in this place!Jango: I hear you Wally. Half the guys come in here have never been in this place. (laugh)Yet again – nothing proves or disproves anything.. Towne seems to be in a situation here where Jango can’t be proven wrong.

They should get this PopTutTowne’s hair sample and fingerprints to compare with Wally Tuttle’s .. Did they have DNA back then?! I’d look up the year but no time.. I’ll leave it for someone else if you’re interested!

Next thing, we see Lee, Amanda and PoptutTowne exiting the building..
PopTutTowne opens the door for Amanda.Amanda: Thank you.
PopTutTowne and Amanda exchange a smile..Lee is rather stern when he stops them and makes a demand.. Lee: Mr Towne, would you wait here for a minute. Amanda?Amanda to PoptutTowne: Excuse me…(Lee and Amanda walk to one side) …What is it?Lee: You seen enough?[Eh?! How can he be so certain?! Lee really is not thinking clearly here! and he’s too emotional – lol yes the two are probably connected!]
I love how Amanda takes his gruffness in her stride..Amanda: Yes… …I’ve seen enough to know that he’s being set up… …Did you see him push the door marked “pull”… …– he’s never been here before!Lee: Jango identified him![IMHO he didn’t really! just sorta!]We cut to a group of joggers making their way toward Lee and Amanda.. while Amanda continues.
Okay – now she’s beginning to get more worked up!
By now she usually would have moved to calm the situation or appease Lee in some way.. but not here!Amanda: I don’t care, I think you’re making a big mistake.Lee: Well I think you are way out of line here!Bam! We see the joggers run straight into Lee and Amanda..
I’m delighted to see Lee instinctively tries to put his arm around Amanda here as the joggers impact.
[btw – I’ve often overlooked Lee’s dialogue about Amanda being out of line -because the joggers interrupt the moment.. but it’s interesting that Lee thinks it is ‘out of line’ for Amanda to think he is making a big mistake. Apparently this is not in line with how Lee believes things should be!! and feeds into that whole idea that Lee is viewing Amanda as a supervisee role.. definitely not the Agent of record!]lol the joggers start punching Lee and I don’t know…..
…what they’re doing to Amanda.. holding her arms or something? or maybe they are calling her names..
PopTutTowne approaches from the side, confused at what the joggers are up to.Towne: Hey, what’s going on here?One of the joggers grabs Towne (By now I am guessing this is actually really Will Towne the good guy who loves his wife)KGB gang: Come on, we’ve got him, let’s go, let’s go! Move it!They run off with PopTutTowne – okay.. they kidnap him!

Uh oh.. things are looking pretty bad! On top of everything it seems the Russians may have run off with both Lee and Amanda’s cars!!! They were parked next to that entrance when they went in there and now they’ve both been moved!! eek!!! These Russians are so cluey! Maybe they think Lee will exchange a captured Russian spy for his vette?! Waahhhaaa

Focus iwsod! 🙂
Amanda helps Lee up.Amanda: You alright?We see the joggers drag PopTutTowne around a corner. I think he was really Will Towne..
Then we see a black Limo driving toward Lee and Amanda. Uh oh.. this can’t be good!
Lee sees the guy aiming a gun at them.. and pulls down Amanda with him to take cover..[okay this is soooo not KJ he is filming this scene with! that is one fugly wig!]Lee: Get down!… [so polite of the baddie to aim high!]
…You okay?Hoooo haaaa! Grrrr!!Amanda: I’ve been better.Lee: Okay, go call for some back-up. Quick![Well… this is an improvement on the last time I remember a moment like this: sour grapes..
you know where Lee says “Now what do I always tell you to do?!”
Amanda: “wait here!”]Not this time 🙂Amanda: Right.Amanda heads back inside, and Lee runs after Will Towne and the joggers.
We see Lee turn a corner and slow down.. he’s found PopTutTowne!
He’s looking like he is trying to hide from those joggers.. I guess Lee would think he is hiding from Lee..Lee hides from him,and surprises him.PoptutTowne doesn’t put up a fight..Lee: Okay Mr Tuttle, you should have stuck with your Russian friends ‘cause now you’re stuck with us.
PoptutTowne lets Lee frisk him and he goes quietly. [Interesting that Lee calls him Mr Tuttle. He really has fallen for Gregory’s plan! ]So is this Will Towne? or Popovich? Did the Russian joggers do a swap? hmm.. I don’t see how they could have known what Will Towne was going to wear that morning..
I guess Wally Tuttle was an invention of Popovich’s to add to the confusion about Will Towne?
I guess if the plan is to get the Americans to swap Will Towne for Francine – this is likely Will Towne, who they kidnapped for a few blocks and then released.. now they’ve set him up as a Russian spy..

I thought Amanda’s pointing out he pulled when he should have pushed or whatever was good evidence.. and heck.. now they can hopefully actually do the CSI stuff and do hair samples and fingerprints no?! this is smk… so maybe that was all for show?! poor smk.. it may surprise me yet 😉
I can’ t help but think: Wait till Amanda hears that Lee has arrested Will Towne like this!!!! whoooo!!!! She is not going to be happy!!! I’d say this will be the final straw for her!
And – whoooo haaaa at the intensity there as Lee grabbed Amanda by the arms – you nearly died.. kiss her!! haaaa…. actually.. I am kinda glad their first kiss isn’t an angry/panicked one! I’ll wait! take your time you two! work through this – and I’ll just enjoy the journey!

Okay- if this was Wally Tuttle, why would he have gone off with his Russian friends in front of Lee and Amanda?! The joggers thing seemed so contrived and.. then we have the drive by shooting on top of it all.. for what? If it was so PopTutTowne could escape Lee and Amanda (or lol maybe just Lee), why would he then be wandering around alone a minute later?! he’d be totally out of there no?!
Have I missed anything? I’m just thinking this through as I type, and am finding this plot is one we need to keep track of.

What’s the hardest plot you’ve found to follow? what ep? I’ll vote for Sour Grapes and those bottles of wine and Mr Twilley! man.. my head hurt! I needed to drink a case of wine just to cope with it 😉 – the errr heroine was not included!
Phew this is a big post!!! gotta run!!

That’s it from me for the moment.. I cannot wait to hear what you all make of this!

btw – I’ve often overlooked Lee’s dialogue about Amanda being out of line -because the joggers interrupt the moment.. but it’s interesting that Lee thinks it is ‘out of line’ for Amanda to think he is making a big mistake. Apparently this is not in line with how Lee believes things should be!! and feeds into that whole idea that Lee is viewing Amanda as a supervisee role.. definitely not the Agent of record!

I’m not sure if I’m interpreting you correctly, iwsod, but it sounds to me like you take issue with the whole Amanda and Agent of Record (AOR) thing? I think it is possible for Lee to be in a supervisory position over Amanda and still have her be the AOR. To me, all that the AOR designation means is that Amanda is the one responsible for the work and for the conclusions. She gets the glory alone, and she also gets any fallout alone. Lee is still her supervisor. I think when he tells her she is out of line, he means that he thinks she is out of line for continuing to question his belief that Towne and Tuttle are one in the same. How dare she? He is the senior agent, the experienced agent. It is Amanda who goes for hierarchy, unlike Lee who has no issue telling his boss what to do. Lee is calling her on it here.

The more I think about it, the more I think that bringing Towne to this place for the piano player to identify wasn’t the best way to handle this. After all, they already know that either Towne or someone who looks very much like him was there because the piano player said so and they found that other picture of him with a girl. Bringing him down there deliberately wouldn’t prove much. What they should do is keep an eye on him to see if he goes down there by himself. The piano player can tell them the usual times he shows up, so they could have one person following Towne and one person already waiting for him for when he shows up. That way, there would be two more witnesses to Towne’s double life . . . or two people who can swear that “Towne/Tuttle” was in two places at once and therefore not the same person.

I got curious.. the only smk references to fingerprints (so far) are:
in we’re off to see the wizard Francine says there are no fingerprints to help them identify who sprayed Amanda’s car with bullets.
in Murder between Friends: Amanda’s fingerprints are all over the weapon ( her dinner knife)

Seems fingerprints don’t solve crimes in smk land.. they are only mentioned when it’s a set up.. or they have no clues. lol. smk may shock me yet! 🙂

Jestress this all sounds very reasonable. too reasonable for smk 😉 haaaaaa..

Just think if we had split them up as you suggested – Lee and Amanda would be apart
– with the less reasonable scenario in the episode, we got Lee and Amanda together: with the added bonus of a whole heap of sexual tension.. heightened emotions and heightened stakes involved 🙂
To be deprived of all this goodness would be unreasonable no? 😉 tee hee..

With my scenario, Amanda probably would have been the one to follow Towne. She would probably have just been sitting in a car outside his house for who-knows-how-long, doing nothing because Towne would just be having a quiet evening at home, while Lee would be lying in wait for “Tuttle”, who may or may not show up at the usual time (whenever that is) and if he did, Lee would be wondering where the heck Amanda is because she was supposed to be following him. It would take a little while to realize that they had a different person (no cell phones, so Lee couldn’t just call Amanda). Things wouldn’t move as fast, especially since they’d have to wait for a time when “Tuttle” usually shows up, and everyone is in a hurry to figure out this situation.

Now that I think about it, Lee and Amanda could be watching the same person while someone else watches the other one. The only problem with that is that the “other person” is usually Francine, and she’s not there. :S

I think I’ll focus on my confusion about Lee as opposed to the whole Tuttle/Towne/Popovich situation. He’s much nicer to look at anyway.

Lee’s comment to Amanda about “let’s just stop arguing about this” and “take Tuttle down” is irritating to me. Lee just assumes that he’s right and that Amanda should just go along with what he says. In the past she’s sometimes argued back and forth, but he was always the one that knew better because of his experience. Now Amanda has gained so much experience and therefore more confidence and seems less inclined to back down from what she feels. I’m not sure if he’s so doggedly determined to prove himself right or prove Amanda wrong. I do think there is some underlying tension about how to deal with the ever burgeoning personal relationship and how it interplays with the professional.

While Lee has been growing so much in the personal realm, Amanda has been growing in the professional realm. I do think there some of that competition thing he has, but I also wonder if there isn’t also something underneath all of this that relates to some of his losses. Amanda has shown a knack for being right on many occasions in helping to solve some of these cases. Lee knows she has good intuition and even made sure she had her own special code when calling in. However, as Amanda continues to move forward as an agent there’s the possibility of her being assigned to work with someone else or being given different assignments than Lee. Could his initial statement of Billy only humoring her be a sign of some underlying fear he has? Could he be afraid that as Amanda grows as an agent, she’ll grow apart from him or be taken from him, so to speak? It just seems strange for him to be lashing out so.

Amanda seems to have been really focused on this assignment Billy gave her. She was doing everything so independently of Lee. She took over his desk, did her own research and didn’t seem to ask too many if any questions. Lee’s only real interaction was signing off on her work. He didn’t like that she referred to herself as the agent of record. Just last episode he was referring to how much she helps him, and maybe he’s afraid she won’t need his help.

I think you are right on the money, Valerie. A deep fear of loss would create a need to control and letting Amanda be an agent in her own right would lesson Lee’s control. And yet allowing her to go out from under his perceived control would only be fertile ground for an even greater love to develop between them.
SMK isn’t good about fingerprints and DNA but they sure got the depth of relationship development down.

I like what you say here, valeriejw. I think this is the first “real” assignment given to Amanda like this. It makes me wonder even more if she isn’t officially hired as an Agency employee but still part-time. I can see this as being her first security clearance – something she can do on her own without a teammate. She’s had other jobs, but they were all parts of Lee’s cases. Light surveillance in ALLA, an undercover maid in LOTP, and Spring Cleaning interviews of crackpots is very different than determining someone else’s security clearance level. And the fact that she is doing all the research and interviews on her own shows that Billy and Lee trust her to know how to do a good enough job.

I’d wear gloves in PopTutTowne’s apartment too – given his “lifestyle” there might be cooties! eewwwww! 😯
Thank goodness for Jango providing some light relief here.
You’re right Iwsod, this is a particularly hard episode to follow – so far. Disappearing cars and stand-in’s in fugly wigs don’t help!
The random group of joggers just look completely out of place – how did super-spy Lee not at least notice them approaching. Guess he was too wrapped up in his intensity with Amanda. Maybe part of his “mood” in this episode is also that he is trying to control and balance the physical/sexual tension he’s feeling about her by concentrating on their professional relationship. In typical Lee fashion he thinks he is keeping this balance by reinforcing his position as the professional superior. But he’s not nearly as in control as he thinks he is, Amanda is pushing back and holding her own against him.

I have to admit that every time I see those joggers approaching, I think they’re a bunch of random SMK extras getting in the way (like Mrs Walker and the family in front of Amanda’s house) and am shocked that they are baddies trying to kidnap PopTutTowne. Joggers shouldn’t be bad; they are just exhausted (OK maybe Learjet is projecting here 😀 )

Lee annoys me here. But maybe he’s just had another bout of insomnia 😉

Although I do think that you have a good point, kiwismh, about Lee trying to control the tension by trying to “control” Amanda professionally. Basically, he’s a bit scared (or maybe terrified) and it’s hard to compartmentalise the different aspects of his relationship with Amanda

My head is still confused. 🙂 PopTutTowne indeed. For your DNA and other forensics questions. Yes to the fingerprints, and if I remember the research I did for the the PITA story I am trying to write – probably no to the DNA stuff – it was developed in 1985 but was really rudimentary and would take weeks to get any results back.
And sorry to break it to Amanda, a brilliant geek math guy will push the same ‘pull’ door hundreds if not thousands of times before the muscle memory kicks in. That does not prove PopTutTowne has never been there before.

And sorry to break it to Amanda, a brilliant geek math guy will push the same ‘pull’ door hundreds if not thousands of times before the muscle memory kicks in. That does not prove PopTutTowne has never been there before.

PopTutTowne looks to put together to be a brilliant math geek. In remembering my college professors his jacket should look a little wrinkled, his tie should be in a loose knot and end about six inches from his waistline, and he should have a briefcase with papers sticking out of it. Plus he would have been oblivious to the fact that Lee and Amanda were getting attacked because he would have been trying to figure out in his head some mathematical problem involving the joggers with time, speed, and distance. So maybe Lee is right and this is Tuttle!

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